Tuned In
Tuned In+505 days ago

Dead Tree Alert: Fall Is A-Fallin'

By James Poniewozik

The print issue of TIME this week features our Fall Arts Preview, including TV as well as movies, music, visual art, theater and those funny iPads made out of paper. It’s not online, though I believe there will be an enhanced web version going up; I’ll alert you when it does. [Update: And... bingo!] In [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+505 days ago

Return Dates for Caprica, In Treatment

By James Poniewozik

One’s about disturbed minds, one’s about disembodied minds, and fans of HBO’s therapy drama In Treatment and Syfy’s artificial-intelligence drama Caprica can all set their minds at ease: each show is coming back in October. Caprica, whose fans were initially told they’d have to wait until next year for the second half of the first [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+506 days ago

TV Tonight: Violent Femme

By James Poniewozik

I don’t have a full-length review for you of The CW’s Nikita, debuting tonight, partly because of other deadlines, partly because, while the pilot is a sleekly executed version of a familiar woman-who-kicks-ass theme (based on the ur-woman-who-kicks-ass story), there’s not enough compellingly original about it to comment on. If it’s a big success—and it [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 506 days ago

The Media and Islam-o-mania: Gasoline for the Fire

By James Poniewozik

Breaking news, everybody: Sarah Palin posted something on Facebook! Responding to a Florida church’s plans to burn Korans on 9/11, she writes: Book burning is antithetical to American ideals. People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation – much like building [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 506 days ago

Top Chef Watch: Singapore Slingers

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for the first half of Top Chef DC’s finale coming up: I have seen every episode of Top Chef DC. I have also seen, with the exception of season 2, pretty much every episode of every season of Top Chef. So I think I can speak from experience when I say that, by the [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 507 days ago

CNN, Piers Morgan Make It Official

By James Poniewozik

It’s been a barely-veiled secret for months now, but today CNN is confirming that British journalist and sometime reality-show judge/contestant Piers Morgan will replace Larry King in primetime, starting next January. The proof will be in the show, but my thoughts on the move are pretty much what they were back when the idea first [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 507 days ago

TV Tonight: The Truth About Cats and Dogs

By James Poniewozik

NBC has generated headlines over the past year with its attempt to remake ’70s private-eye show The Rockford Files. Somebody should let them know they can stop trying now. FX has not remade The Rockford Files with its sly-humored new P.I. drama Terriers, debuting tonight, but it has pursued what is probably a better idea: [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 507 days ago

Sons of Anarchy Watch: Belfast and Furious

By James Poniewozik

Brief spoilers for the season three premiere of Sons of Anarchy after the jump:

Tuned In
Tuned In+508 days ago

TV Tonight: Sons of Anarchy Restarts Its Engines

By James Poniewozik

The outstanding season 2 of Sons of Anarchy ended in a blaze of action: the SAMCRO motorcycle gang got revenge (of sorts) for the rape of matriarch Gemma (Katey Sagal) by the minions of a white-power group; Gemma herself went on the lam after being set up for murder; and protagonist Jax (Charlie Hunnam) was [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+News Media | 508 days ago

ABC News Chief Westin Resigns; Who Wants to Manage Decline?

By James Poniewozik

David Westin, who has managed ABC News for nearly 14 years, is announcing his resignation, pending ABC’s naming a replacement. The resignation comes with the usual statement about pursuing other opportunities, and the specific causes of the move are arguable: The Daily Beast pegs Westin’s departure as the handiwork of Disney head Bob Iger, who’s [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 509 days ago

Mad Men Watch: The Boxer

By James Poniewozik

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, buy a ticket to the closed-circuit screening at your local theater and watch last night’s Mad Men. It was structured around one historic fight, and featured a few others—some verbal, one drunken—but all around “The Suitcase” was, fittingly, a knockout. At the center of all these battles was [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 509 days ago

Rubicon Watch: Lie to Me

By James Poniewozik

Spoilers for last night’s Rubicon coming up: In many stories, the dramatic function of lie detectors—like the ostensible actual function of lie detectors—is to eliminate ambiguity: to cut through the murk and differing possibilities and find black and white answers. Black or white, pass or fail. In some stories, however, they show how the truth [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 512 days ago

Kara DioGuardi Voted Off Idol

By James Poniewozik

One of the worst-kept secrets in TV finally became official today: Kara DioGuardi and Fox announced that the judge will follow Simon Cowell and Ellen DeGeneres in leaving American Idol’s judging panel for next season. “I felt like I won the lottery when I joined ‘American Idol’ two years ago, but I feel like now [...]

+Movies | 512 days ago

Top 10 Ridiculously Violent Movies

By Gilbert Cruz
Everett

TIME looks at films that revel in over-the-top mayhem. (Warning: The following trailers and summaries deal with sometimes disturbing violence.)

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | 512 days ago

Top Chef Watch: Failure to Launch

By James Poniewozik

Brief spoilers for this week’s Top Chef coming up: The finals of this season of Top Chef will take place in Singapore, a fantastic choice: a vibrant food city—or, um, so I gather from food TV and magazines—with a colorful culture that melds a numbers of Asian cuisines. And I wish they weren’t doing it. [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 512 days ago

The Morning After: Overaccessorized?

By James Poniewozik

Since Project Runway debuted, it has been rightly praised as the model (so to speak) of a high-quality competition reality show: entertaining, smart about its subject and visually crisp. Then, for season eight, Lifetime decided that if an hour of Project Runway was this good, 90 minutes would be 50% better. Instead, the superfluous half-hour [...]

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Tuned In+513 days ago

Jamie Oliver's Revolution Will Be Re-Televised

By James Poniewozik

Here’s some good news: Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, a (1) entertaining reality show that (2) treated its subjects intelligently, seriously and respectfully yet (3) actually got pretty decent ratings, has been picked up for a second season. While the show didn’t set the Nielsens on fire last spring, it did creditably in a tough Friday [...]

Tuned In
Tuned In+Uncategorized | 513 days ago

Hung's Renewal and the Mystery of HBO Decisionmaking

By James Poniewozik

Yesterday HBO announced that Hung, its dark comedy about a suburban Michigan gigolo and his pimp, will get a third season. I’m pleased and surprised. I don’t think the show has lived up to its potential, but when it’s on—and the past couple of episodes have been strong—it’s an insightful look at people trying to [...]